Zephyre Al'dran's page

Oracle of Lore 1/Ninja 2/Paladin with Oath of vengence! Focus Cha, Str, Con. Dump Dex & Wis. Keep Int at least 10, higher if not human. Want Cha about 20( you could go 18 then Cha Headband, then focus on Str. Con is only important if you survive between hits and Heals. Revelation: Side Step Secret. Ninja Trick: Forgotten Trick - this ads versatility, but its not the reason for 2nd lvl ninja, Ki pool & extra attacks per round is. Paladin for the win. Focus feats on melee, Power attack, Furious Focus. Also pick up Greater Mercy, so you will be able to heal inbetween all the hits. Get Int up to 13 and you can pick up Unsanctioned Knowledge and add Bard spells to your Paladin Spell list.
Otherwise trick out all your feats for Offense. Maybe pick up a few fighter levels to help with this.

20 Hit Die Zombie Dragon.
20 Hit Die Anti Paladin Skelatal Champion.

I'd say don't do it. Gish Fighters rely on transmution and buffing spells to help make up for the inefficenceis of the spellcasting classes melee capabilities. The words of power system sucks at the this. It is phenominal on damage output, and you can be an awesome blaster, but it sucks on buffing spells just about altogether. The one unique word that they have that you can't find as an equivalent spell is Accelerate, which actually gives you a move action. Other than that, its just not a system that works for Gish fighters.

Play with your crossbow as it were a high crit weapon. Improved Critical, Slap on Flaming Burst, and then purchase enchanted bolts for special occasions that you really want the hit to count. Purchasing Bane bolts just for those occassions you need to deal with a specific creature type and your set. Don't forget to diversify your bolt selection. Cold Iron Bolts are usually only slighly more expensive than regular bolts, so I load up on those as my primary ammo. Since your going to encounter creatures using crossbows in your travels, you can always steal theirs to supplement or save up your special bolts.

If she's willing to level dip, the best option would be Monk. You WILL be swimming on more than one occassion in this AP, so goins sans armor would be a good thing. Since your going for Cleric anyway, take advantage of your high Wis score for defense and get swim and acrobatics as class skills. If you really want to capitalize on a High Wisdom, take a 2 level dip into Monk with the sensei archtype and carry a Temple Sword.

Truthfully though, if you're looking for a divine caster for this adventure the Druid really is your best bet. Shapeshifting = Martial prowess and diversity in effectiveness in aquatic environments. Spell casting, Healer on level with Witch, unique offensive spells and spontaneous summoning which I fear will be another major advantage given terrain issues.

A Final thought, though this won't edge you toward the world best melee fighter, you could consider a Waves Oracle with the Elf-Only Archetype Ancient Lorekeeper. This Combination allows for incredible utility as you get to choose your bonus spells from the Wizard list and you gain access to several increadible revelations that Fluid Travel, Water Sight & Water Form are all awesome abilities to have in this particular AP.

Oh, one more Combo. This would require her to be LG, but Paladin 2 Oracle of Lore w/Ancient LoreKeeper Archetype. - Awesome Saves, Charisma bonuses to AC, Saves & and Smite Evil, Full weapon & Armor Proficiencies, Lots of ability to heal & Fight and Sling spells no one would expect you to.

I don't know about archers being broken. A whole combat style that can be rendered useless by a first level spell that is on every fullcasters list just doesn't seem that broken to me. Not to say that I haven't seen archer really do well in putting down an enemy. I think that cluster shot for the ability it represent is fine as written, but seeing the arguements for penetrating strike I could concede that perhaps an increase in base attack bonus requirement to like +8 or +10 might be a good concession. My reasoning is that yes, a pure archer will likely get more utility out of this, however ranged attacks are usually the primary back up of spellcaster and other classes that don't receive full attack bonuses. I don't think they should be penalized for the pure archer's prowess.

I'm curious how in a game such as this an entire class could somehow render itself only useful in combat in a mechanical sense? They'd have to have some kind of class feature that only allows them to be played in combat and then it forces the player to leave the room until called on again, which sadly is how I think is a minority of people try to play the game. :(

They already have a class for this, it's call Summoner!

I'm kind of surprised no one has mentioned it, but the mumification discovery is a fantastic defensive discovery which can give a multitude of immunities that other classes don't see till possibly 20th level. Immune to cold, nonleathal, sleep & paralysis by 10th! Thats half of your adventuring career, which if that career occurs in the land of the Linnorm Kings, you're friggin set. You have to take preserve organs first, but I don't think people should look down on a 25% chance to negate sneak attacks and critical hits. (which you can increase to 75% by taking the discovery 2 more times)

And finally, Immunity to cold actually makes the detonate spell useful.

Draconic Disciple states that :
Blood of Dragons

A dragon disciple adds his level to his sorcerer levels when determining the powers gained from his bloodline. If the dragon disciple does not have levels of sorcerer, he instead gains bloodline powers of the draconic bloodline, using his dragon disciple level as his sorcerer level to determine the bonuses gained. He must choose a dragon type upon gaining his first level in this class and that type must be the same as his sorcerer type. This ability does not grant bonus spells to a sorcerer unless he possesses spell slots of an appropriate level. Such bonus spells are automatically granted if the sorcerer gains spell slots of the spell's level.

My question is as a crossblooded sorceror, as I gained levels in draconic discple I'd continue to gain access to additional bloodline abilities as I progress. Would I still have the ability to choose which powers I gain access to? The first line seems to suggest that I would but I'd like a fair interpretation before I go to my GM with this for Rise of the Ruin Lords.

We were fighting this creature at top a 100 ft tall tower. Managed to critically injure it, with the witch flying just under it near the edge of the tower. It fell, landed on the witch whose flight spell couldn't support them and crashed them both into the ground. The Witch goes unconscious under it, but the creature survives the fall and next round regens to cosciousness. In a moment of brilliance I thought I'd steal a scene from Final Fantasy IV and jump down on the creature with my lucerne hamer. 5ft step and off we go. Unfortunately, a nat 1 on the acrobatics check to fall on top of the creature landed me face first on the ground beside it, with phenominally high fall damage to boot (57pt!)
Still hurt, with in ten feet of the creature I roll to my back and swing from prone on my last attack to finish the beast.

Ultimate Options: New Magus Arcana. Super Genius Games, LLC.

If you're GM is cool with it then you've got plenty to work with. Featwise, foucus on you're crossbow. Though I agree the crit threat is sexy, it does take alot to get decent milage out of crossbows at later levels without some specialization. If he's giving out a free feat without concern for the requirements, ask for rapid reload. This will increase a) your mobility & b) your attaks per round in the long run.
Feats to look into:
Selective channel - the only feat none crossbow related on this list.
Point-blank shot
Precise shot
Deadly Aim
Cluster shot.

These 4 crossbow feat are the most critical for sucess with this weapon longrun after rapid reload.

After these are taken consider Rapid shot and possibly manyshot.
Don't forget to invest in both enchantments for the xbow and the bolts.
Also remeber to pick up different kind of bolts to bypass DR (aka silver, cold iron, adamantine, blunt etc.)

I know you're saying you're casting take priority, but as a buffer healer, there is little you need to look into other than possibly extend spell for you're spells that have good durations.

I didn't really want to say this, on the off chance my GM may one day read this build info, but what I'm planing for our next campaign is very similar to you're build with just a few alterations.
Magus - Hexcrafter/Cabalist. Choose Orc as you're Cabalist Blood line
1 Sorceror - Dual blooded Draconic/Primal Elemental - Fire or Elec your choice (Mine's fire)
1 Wizard - Admixture Specialist.

Finally, spend 3 feats in Eldritch Heritage Abyssal to pick up the Str Bonus.
By 20th, 18 magus 1 sor 1 wiz, you have a effective +12 inheirent to strength, with the ability to use Power of the Giants for an additional +6 str size and use you Intsified Empowered and possibly Maximize Shocking Grasp Spell strike to inflice 10d6 +(1/2 of 10d6)+ 30 + whatever you're hitting them with +9 bonus on top of your normal strength.

Need you ask? He's the beat stick! He bashes things to pudding, and sneakily at that. I've met my match as a munchkin, a friggin Ninja in FULLPLATE! He is actually effectively applying the number 2 rule of anime, the more heavily armored the character, the faster he moves.
Number 1 is that Tokyo is the matchstick city, it burns to the ground in nearly every series. (I will admit, this rule should be amendid, as there are now far more anime where it survives intact than there were in the 90's when the rules of anime first came out.) But I digress. go fore the shadow clones. The only thing more frightening than one spiked armored steel clad angry midget climbing the walls like Spiderman is him and he 5 buddies.

First thing you should note is spellstoring enchantment only applies to melee weapons. So no to the spell storing bolts. (Interestingly, you can use it on weapons that are both melee & range aka a dagger..)
However there are 3 ways to by pass this.
Route one is Arcane Archer. This will take a minimum of about 11 levels , assuming 1 for (insert arcane class here) 8 lvls of cleric for +6 attack bonus and heavy access to cleric list & 2 levels of arcane archer. This will allow you to spell store with bows, however, not crossbows.
Route 2 requires 4 levels of magus with the Myrmidarch archtype. Big advantage here is that you can make the ranged spellstrike with any weapon, but that 4 levels less of the cleric.

Route 3 is probably the sanest and least complicated option. Take one level of Spellslinger Wizard archtype and go the rest cleric. The spellslinger will allow you to cast your spell through your gun (though you will need to invest in the reach metamagic feat to use most of your touch spells, it is worth it because the gun adds an external bonus to the DC of your spells equal to the gun's enhancement bonus at the time of the casting.

So now the question is how attached are you to using a spellstoring ranged attack.

Next question you need to ask is of your GM, is he going to allow the leadership feat? Nobility Domain gains the feat for free, so you should no long before you get it whether he will allow it, considering you have a 6 player party to begin with.

Once you've got a these guys answered to you're liking let us know where you stand.

Just another idea you migh want to consider, look into team up feats with you're fellow party members. This would be the kind of thing leaders would likely do, working with their allies.

Buy Mithril Agile Breastplate if you're hurting for AC. This will give you the same advantage of speed and lower your armorcheck penalties to the point your weak physical stats won't be crippling. Don't bother with combat casting. You shouldn't even consider getting into melee with your physical stats as is. Sit back and buff the party. It'll be a while before you get to play with the really destructive stuff.
Pick up Command Undead early as well as craft wand.
2 wands that will serve you well in battle will be Curemoderate Wounds and Sound Burst. Sound burst is generally not that great of a spell, but if you have a wand of it and can spam it it becomes a lot of fun. Since the damage is not based off of caster level it is the perfect attack wand. Just don't count on stunning.

All that said, first thing you should do is check with your GM to see if it is cool for your to be controlling undead in his campaign. He might put the breaks on that idea, as undead controlling can break certain games.

I love the concept, but to make it work will be a little difficult as you're a little feat starved to take advantage of goblin awesomeness.
If you don't mind the level loss, try pumping in 2 levels of fighter.
1st level - Roll with it (Goblin Specific Feat) - You avoid damage to get sent flying instead. Entertaining and useful ;)
Fighter(Exotic Weapon - Elven Curveblade or other high die weapon with finesse.
Fighter 2 Weapon finesse.
Pal 1 (3rd level) If you chose a 2 handed weapon go for power attack, otherwise pirana strike.
By 5th leve seek an agile version of your finesse weapon. Let the fun in begin!

Traits - Goblin fool hardiness, - +1 to hit if you have no adjacent allies, & Strength of the Barghest!

Actually it looks like the winner may end up the Dreamspun (Visonary) Bloodline.

Tattooed sorc gives up a lot that makes bloodlines good.

You lose your 1st level power as well as your 7th level bonus feat.

So really its all about the arcana.

Visionary is not real sexy, you only need one hour of sleep to regain spells, but while not exciting, its really good.

the bonus spells kinda suck. but the further bonuses to Init fit the character. (3rd, 7th and 11th)

Now on to looking at the rest of the character.

Thank you for all the input.

I'd not bother with the Dream bloodline for the same reasons your choosing it. PFS Play seldom ever allows for time for players to rest mid adventure. I'm not saying it will never happen, but you really won't see much if any use of this power in game.

Consider Verdant for access to Barkskin or Protean for the +4 bonus your transmutation spells have against dispelling. This can help your enlarge person and stat buffing spells.

I like to take a more well rounded approach to combat. If you're looking to chuck lots of bombs, I think everyone here is on the right track, but what you need to be aware of is what happens when you're out of bombs. I've seen this happen all to easily to alchemist midway a dungeon, especially since it looks like you've only got one solid melee.
The grendadier is impressive, and I can see that doing a lot of damage over the course of you're career, but take a look at the preservationist. At your level you'd have access to summon nature's ally 4, and as all extracts are activated as a standard action, you'd be able to summon a monster as fast as a summoner with it. This will give you some versatility in the upcoming battles that you may find you'd really want.

A lot of good suggestions have already gone out there with regards to bomb tossing discoveries as well as the wings discovery. Since your'e 9th level to start I'd offer the suggestion to pick up Preserved Organs Discovery with the intention of picking up the Mumification Discovery at 10th level. The immunities you gain with the mumification Discovery are really hard to pass up, immune to cold, nonleathel damage, paralysis & sleep. You should also look into explosive missle for some synergy with your crossbow & breath weapon bomb for those instances you enemies are too close to chuck a bomb without an attack of opportunity.
Ofcourse any bomb chucker should have precise bombs so as to not damage other party members incidentally.

Out side of this, find a light weapon you like and pick up weapon finess and a +1 agile version of this weapon (equivalent of a +2 weapon). You'll be able to use you dex for to hit and damage for those occasions you'll be in melee. And yes, you will be in melee. With a party you're size and only one true melee fighter, this is going to happen. Ofcourse, avoid it as much as possible, but be ready for it just in case. My advise would be to use a cestus or spike gauntlet, as both are simple weapons, you can still create and chuck bombes or fire crossbows while wearing them and they are light weapons so you have a chance to fight back if your grappled. Not to mention they are nearly impossible to disarm.

Since you've got such a high Intelligence and you are looking to use crossbows pick up Focused shot. You'll only be able to take one shot a round, but you'll add your intelligence to your crossbow damage.

Finally, invest in defense. Pick up a Darkwood buckler and enchant this as at least to +2. Being darkwood will relieve it of the armor check penalties and you can still use you're hands to prepare bombs or drink extract. Cloak of Resistenct +2 is pretty critical as well. Amulets of natural armor and a ring of deflection and a ring of featherfall to round it out defensively. And Potions! Look at your extract list and locate those potions you think you might use a lot of (ie cures, invisibility, fly) and purchase these @ half price because of your brew potion feat. As a 2nd level extract you can get Alchemical Allocation. This will allow you to drink, then spit the potion back into the vial and retain it's magical properties without using the actual potion. This is especially good to use for potions of spell not on your list.

You know, despite the flak Sean is getting, he's doing something many of us wish we could do. While I agree there has been a few errors in rules knowledge, this probably stems from houserules used with the groups he usually games with, so I can understand the sliding. I'm sure however that he's now been seeing these posts and working out the problems everyone has been commenting on. Keep in mind folk that this is a hobby, and he is doing us all a nice service in trying this out with his free time and trying to maintain his own responsibilities. Hopefully he will redress these issues, or at the least in the spirit of keeping the games going moveforward using the corrective measures that he will have come to the conclusion of by following the communities advisement and further research into the material.
That said, if I could find a way to film it, I'd personally would love to try this very experiment with different restriction. But I'd wait till the current tournement was finished as I'm sure there is still a lot more experiance to be gain from seeing this to the end.

Look at it this way, those guys who ran away got to keep their lives. Everyone else has died rather brutally either due to Critical Hits or Coup de Gras.

@Jared = Ah, I see how it works out now. I never paid attention to that line in the flurry of blows, instead I usually just refer to the chart. But even with that, the attack bonus was still off by a either 1 point if your opponent was human, or 3 points if he wasn't. If he was human, you should've been doing and extra 2d6 per hit, which in this case could've decided the match in your favor, as you had hit him way more than he had connected with you.

Melee Unarmed Strike +7 (1d8+7/20/x2)

Melee Vs Human Unarmed Strike +9 (1d8+9/20/x2)
Flurry of Blows Unarmed Strike +6/+6 (1d8+9/20/x2)
Flurry of Blows Vs Human Unarmed Strike +8/+8 (1d8+11+2d6/20/x2)

Flurry attack Brackdown: BAB+5, STR+5, -2Flurry, -2PA

If you have a single level in monk, the maximum BAB you can have by 5th level is a +4 because a monk is on a 3/4 progression, and does not get an attack bonus at level one. Assuming 20 str the attacks should be as follows. Since he used Ki Pool, it had to be at least a 4th level monk, plus 1 level in some other fighter class.

FOB (No P Att) +8/+8 1d8+5 damage
FOB (P Att) +6/+6 1d8+9 damage
FOB (No P Att, Target Human) +10/+10 1d8+7 +2d6 damage.
FOB (P Att, Target Human) +8/+8 1d8+11 +2d6 damage.

Keep in mind that monks only suffer a -1 penalty to hit with Flurry of blows and that disappears at 5th level.

Now I just looked at this again and your earlier post, but you could've taken a level in Ranger with human as you're favored enemy for just a +2 bonus to hit and damage. Is that what you meant by "Amulet was human bane not a +1"? If so, the scale above still works but we would not have seen the extra 2d6 of damage.

I don't think that fits. Or at least the math seems off. He did use 4 Stunning fists, I guess he could've had a level in fighter, which would increase the AT Bonus high enough to get the - 2 to hit +4 to damage, but he was hiting with a +9 per hit. -2 to hit from a bases at of 4 + 5 for strengthwould be + 7 per hit, not +9. If it was Human bane the either th target wasn't human or the extra 2d6 damage vs humans was never applied. That extra 2d6 per hit would've decided the fight far more in the monks favor.

I hope my fight goes half as well as some of these others, but it will ultimately come down to the die rolls. Truthfully, see how many paladins are wandering around I'm not looking forward to round 2 even if I do make it through. Se la vie...

Great fight in both cases. I agree about the issue with the using a spellcraft check. The concentration check should've been caster level plus ability modifier, but even that was unecessary as he had been far enough away to not induce an attack of opportunity anyway.
Is it just me, or am I noticing a ton of paladins and monks so far? Only one definitive wizard and one other caster who we really don't know what he was. I think there might've been a fighter or 2, but it really is difficult to say.
I am still wondering how the monk in the last fight managed a +9 to damage. I can see pulling it off with 20 str + 2 str belt and +1 amulet of mighty fist and power attack, which could leave him with +9 to hit and + 9 to damage, but he never mentioned he was power attacking as the other character did. I'm fine with it, it led to a fantastic fight, I'm just surprised it wasn't mentioned or that he wouldn't switch out for a +10 to hit and +7 to damage all of those rounds he was missing.

The first fight was fantastic. It's a shame that he couldn't pull off a crit with the keen falchion, as it likely would've ended the fight in a single blow, but the triple threat peppering of attacks really did the trick from the monk did the trick.

I also read up on Coup de Grace. It doesn't say anywhere in there that you'd do maximum damage. You just get the benifits of a critical hit. you'd still have to roll all of your damage. And you're right about the 7 rounds held. But it is up to the GM, and I think he was a little tired and distracted with work and the home improvements going on. He may let the ruling stand just to proceed with the tournement, or he might offer to rerun the fights again later if he gets enough requests to.

Meh. As much as we try to stack the deck it really does come down to die rolls in the end. Though I do find it funny that you're right. With Cause Fear on all of the major caster lists but the druid's nobody still has a clue as to what you're playing.

As far as DoctorYesNinja's question, you can still take a 5 foot step admidst a full round action.

I just watched the battle between Villain and Doln, and have to take a small exception to how the combat was run.
I originally thought you had to do you charge from you starting position, but after reading the rules again, I really can't see anything preventing you from backing up and charging as he did in the match. Maybe some one else could further clarify this, but at the moment that actually looks legal.

I really have 2 concerns with the match. After Villain hid around the corner Dolne drew is bow to shoot him and Villain used Deflect arrows to bat it away. However Dolne in the very next round he swung his 2 handed Elven curve blade. How? He had to drop it to pull the long bow and shoot. I'd understand if it was a thrown dagger, you could still hold (though not threaten with) the Elven Curve Blade in your off hand and still manage to attack the next round, but he drew his bow! Thats a two handed item to fire, which mean that he dropped the Elven Curved blade on the move. At the very least it would take him a move action that would provoke an attack of opportunity if he dropped it in the square he ended in to pick up the Elven curve blade again.

My 2nd concern may be moot, as a significant amount of damage was done with the crit, but it appeared there was 2 additional d6s added to the damage. Now it is more than likely that he'd not survive the damage either way, it left with having taken more than 70 points of damage, but then again, if he had Orc Ferocity and more healing available, He might've survived the attack.

Yeah, once he got up the haste potion you were done. As long as he could close with you didn't have a chance. Potion of fly or spider climb and if you'd climbed the statue you'd had a higher ground bonus.
And possibly stopped him from closing. But what can you do.

Frag. I just saw a post at the bottom of the emperor's pick's videos. Looks like I'll be up against a Paladin by the sound of it. That will was the one thing I was hoping I wouldn't encounter. Well, guess we'll just have to duke it out to see.

I'm definitely curious as to how the tourney will play out. I do have one question. Do we recoup expended items after each battle? I didn't see the first fight, but the 2nd fight and 3rd fight were pretty well done. However, MinMax used a haste potion in the fight, will he get to use it against opponents in other fights?

I got graded a B with my character Estoban so I'm looking forward to seeing how the battle with the C I get to fight with is going to go.

Finally, should there be like a post of the fallen characters, so we can see who we were up against. I'm really curious about the everyone's characters, but I agree that since we still have active combats going on the remaining participants shouldn't post their builds till the finally.

You mention no familiars. I assume that includes animal companions, but does it include summoned creatures? Need to know as this would severly nerf a Druid build.

Are you also limiting Item Creation feats? Scribe scroll, Craft Potion, Craft Arms & Armor & Craft Wonderous Items are all allow in core book, and while they may not all be tremedously useful in a fight but it could lead to the extra resources needed to win.

Are traits legal? These are typically used in everyday Pathfinder Play, but are not found in the core book.

I see 1 problem with the build. You can't take the extra rage power feat until after you receive rage powers naturally via the class at 2nd level. I'd ask your GM to make sure he'll allow the early class feature access, otherwise you've got a nice build set up there. Have you considered adding some ranger levels focusing on the natural attack combat style?

Oracle - paladin(Hospitalier/sacred servant) Much fun healing, plus access to a domain
Barbarian - Ranger(Skirmisher) - Lots of nasty tricks, but you don't have to worry about spell casting
Alchemist, Gunslinger - but give him access to the explosive missile discovery
I won't make a repeated suggestion for the fire elemental sorcerer. What everyone else has alreay mentioned fits it to a T.
The inquisitor is difficult to peg. Is he a melee fighter or a ranged fighter? If he's melee, then the best way for him to take advantage of his teamwork feats is to let him have plenty of friends. I'd recommend Summoner, (Master Summoner). In this cast a bunch of weak monsters serve the purpose of both flank and teamwork buddies.
If he's more focused on range this is a trickier fix. Ranger has great synergies, but he's likely already taken the feats provided by their combat styles. Magus could be cool, or just really cheesy. Kind of hard to say. Fighter is probably the best be available.

My suggestion would be 1st lvl gunslinger/guntank. You get full martial proficiencies, a gun which would allow for a ranged touch sneak attack, full armor & shield proficiencies and a chance to at least once per day allow you to act as if your armor had the fortified ability. Spend a feat on opening volley, so your first round in each combat, which a moderate dex + reactionary + improved iniative should nearly ensure and by level 2 start alchemist/ vivisectionist/ Beastmorph. Originally, I was going to recommend against it, but I can't see anything else that would assist your build that isn't already covered by your fellow party members. Maybe Chirgeon, as you can never have too many healers, but you should be fine. The advantage to opening volley would be to allow you to get a +4 to your next round of attacks, which hopefully by that point your summoner or wizard has dropped something on the board for you to flank with.
The only problem I think you should be aware of in your group is that I don't believe that the spellslinger archetype is allowed in PFS play currently.

Challenge Accepted!
The desire is to do a lot of damage & maintain attack bonus with some spell access. To whit, I introduce the idea of a Cabalist - Magus, with the intent @ 7th level to take the Empyreal bloodline. Add to this the Spire Defender Archetype and you'll gain Dodge & Combat expertise @ 1st level. Magus gives you spell combat & Spell strike, you can chose your unarmed strikes to be enhanced as magical weapons and you should be able to maintain a 3/4 attack bonus. Alternative to the Spire Defender you could go with Kensai... but that combo seems a little to often used. Ofcourse, the agile amulet of mighy fist is the best early bet for increased damage, but the Cabalist/Magus is great for enhancing your damage out put and still take advantage of your monk-like abilities.

Feint is a bluff check against the target's sense motive. This usually takes a standard action, allowing you to catch them flatfooted the next term. I don't know if Pathfinder has the feat Improved Feint in any of the books, but in 3.5 it allowed you to reduce this time to a move action. Additionally, if you have concealment from the target either via invisability or something lesser with a hide check and the target is does not have concealment to you this would also allow you to take advantage of them being flatfooted. Finally, there are Crit Cards in the Deck of Critical Hits that could result in the target becoming flatfooted with regards to you.

Give it guns? A 4 armed eidolon could wield 2 muskets after using a wand of reloading hands, which you can use on him would give him 3 rounds of 1d12 + point blank +deadly aim withing forty feet?

Okay, yeah, I know I'm reaching here, but it would be kinda cool to see...

Take a 20 credit course in Cosmetalogy? Throw Anything, Weapon Focus Blush, Weapons Specialization Eye Liner, Greater Weapon Focus Lip Balm?

Jokes aside, Tiny Coffee Golem is right, Sniper is the way to go. High dex, medium strength and then build it like you would any archer. Ofcourse, you could always go with the Sling Staff.

Knowing the poster as I do, I think a little more information of the situation should be illuminated for clarification. While he has posted a Lawful Neutral Alignment for his character, in fact that is the alignment the character started with, his alignment has shifted from Lawful Good, for acts of great goods deeds, which resulted in the DM in allowing him to use spells and powers from the Book of Exalted Deeds. This was argued to still be in the tenants and faith of Weejas, and the GM allowed this. Furthermore, I believe during this period the GM allowed him to utilize positive energy channelling. Then the character performed reprehesible acts and continued to engage in this fashion, forcing the GM to recognize that the character's alignment had been shifted. The case was argued that Weejas as a LN deity would still accept him, as it was his "path to power", so his deity still allowed him to draw power from him and has given him access to powers and spells from the book of vile darkness. The player has enjoyed these powers for a few levels, however they've reached a point in the Shackled City that is leaning more to the need that he should draw once again on the powers of good. Hence his desire to "change alignment" again. The true question that should be asked here is whether or not his spellcasting and powers should depend on his character's alignment or his deity's alignment. As to the idea of his using attonement to change his character's alignment back to Good, this issue here is that he can not cast it on himself and none of the other caster's high enough in the city that are left alive at this point are likely to be able to cast it for him, as in the spell's description it requires the character to be truly repentant, and he's already suggest out of character that as soon as he felt the need for the good powers were over he'd return to his old ways.

If you're really going for the Indiana Jones feel, consider picking upp firearms proficeincy and the snag a whip. There are feats to allow you to wield either your whip or sword with out getting attacks of opportunities. You can pick up deadly aim to increase your damage with both I believe, as the whip does count in some instances a ranged weapon, you can snag a scorpion whip to inflict leathal damage. Another idea would be to take a level of Spellslinger. With that, you can drop a spell that you're not planning on using to add an effect to your arcane gun, and you can pick up a few useful level 1 arcane spells that will be useful at your current level as well as later on.
3 Archeologist Bard/ 1 SpellSlinger-Wizard (HP 3d8+12 +1d6+4 = 38)
12 14 15 15 16 18
15 Str
18 Dex
18 Con (+1 for level, +2 Racial)
14 Int
12 Wis
16 Cha

Int or Wis you can switch out depending on whether you want higher skills or perception. If your not worried about DCs for your few Wizard skills as you'll likely focus on boosting spells then consider the higher wis for perception and saves Traits: Vagabond Child. I don't know where this trait is, but if it does do what everyone on the boards are saying, then by all means pick it up. Also pick up the trait that increase your caster level with the Spellslinger class. It'll help with durational effects.
Assuming human
Bns Feat Weapon Finesse
1st level Serpent Lash - If you succeed on a disarm or trip against one opponent, you may get a free disarm or trip against an adjacent opponent
3rd level Whip Mastery - no attacks of opportunity, may deal normal damage or nonleathel damage with a whip regardless of the enemies armor bonus
@ 5th level pick up a combat feat as the rogue talent and snag both Poewer Attack and Deadly Aim.

Bonus Feats
Gunsmithing from the spell slinger
Firearm proficiency from the spell slinger
Exotic Wpn (Whip) from Bard
@ 4th level @ 5th level
Melee Whip +6 1d3+2(+5 with +1&Agile) Melee Whip +6 1d3+4 (+7)
Advantage (Reach, Trip, Disarm)
Melee Dagger +6 (1d4+2) Melee Dagger +6 1d4+4
Range Dagger +6 (1d4+2) Range Dagger +6 1d4+4
(Arcane Gun +1) +7 (1d6+1 + 1d6 energy) @ 5th level +2 damage
Advantage : range touch in 20ft, add elemental damage by sacrificing a spell, last 1 minute per level of spell sacrificed
Note, does not include any bonuses from bardic abilities
Wiz spells: Burning Disarm, Mage Armor, Shield, True Strike, Moment of Greatness, Fabricate bullets.
Opposed Schools, Abjuration, evocation, illusion, necromancy.
Saves: Fort + 5
Refl + 7
Will + 5

Just incase I missed it being said, but ever considered "David the Gnome". Gnomish druid with a hat that is a complete pacifist and complete capable of being mistaken for a lawn ornament while secretly a member of the Gnome Syndicate, an order of fairykind responsible for thwarting evil around the mystical world and suburban homes everywhere.
See the following:
The Gnome Syndicate

Unfortunately, scrolls, staves and potions require the spell to be on your spell list, while everything else you can take a penalty for the loss.

I've got an evoker built with 3 level of pathfinder savant and 1 cypher mage. Being able to crack out 2 scrolls a day for back up spells and casting them at your caster level is awesome. My current plan is to take my 5th level of evoker @ 11th to pick up Craft Staff and Staff like wand. This is truly the point when you've got the ultimate utility belt.

See about building a ranged Paladin with the Hospitaler & Warrior of the Holy Light archetype. This should give you sufficient healing with out actually casting spells. Ofcourse, I think your best bet would be to see if the Paladin or Ranger fit his build idea, as they both have sufficiently low magic for low magic campaigns. Finally, see if he considers Alchemist to be magic. Many consider alchemist to be a science based class, so this might be a good alternative to the missing healer in your party. That said it is going to be crucial for longterm survival to have some kind of healer in party, as you can't rely on non magical healing for most crucial instances and you can't guarentee that you will find alternative healing methods. The bigger issue is aside from the fighter and the Gunslinger, every other class has some kind of access to a magical or supernatural ability. You'd need to get a much clearer detail of what qualifies as magic and what is or isn't allowed in the campaign.

Consider Brightness Seeker. Wildshape by level 3 in the Prestige class, very minimal prequisites, and the 2 level ability would allow you to qualify for feral combat training by level 9. Not to mention the Rebirth ability would be interesting with your character concept.

Burning Disarm. By a wand and use it till he runs out of weapons. Once he's disarmed you only have to worry about the dragon, cause in all likely hood he's not going to get off the dragon to fetch his weapons. If he does, roast him and toast him. The dragon is another issue entirely First yoo'll need Communal Resist energy. I opt for this over everyone carrying potions of resistance because your only absorbing one action here.
The next big ticket spell here is going depend on a lotta luck, as it's uncertain if you gotta deal with SR, and even then there is a fort save, but ray of exhaustion will very effectively nullify the dragon. -6 str & dex and reduce his movement by half and you've severly limited his fighting capability. It's also something he's going to likely be unable to recover from in the fight. The strategy you imploy from here will depend on whether th creature has SR. If it doesn't load the fighter up with flame arrow, haste and heroism and resume your normal blasting. Keep spread out. Do not let it engage you in melee. You've no primary healer, so letting the dragon nail you for 5 attacks in a round will result in causualties.

If the dragon does have SR, your strategy is going to be different. Your'e goint to cast vanish or invisibility (I'd opt for vanish in this fight as you will have 5 round before you'll need another and your likely to do something to lose it during the fight) and focus on summoning Lantern Archons. On the first turn they arrive have them use Aid on themselves and perhaps your group then have them swarm and blast it slowly to pieces. Lantern archons can fly, so remeber to think 3 dimensionally when fighting the dragon. Further more this gives the dragon other targets besides your party to work over. Lastly, purchase wands of acid arrow. This is a spell that bypasses SR and is not commonly resisted. This can be your source of continued damage against the dragon as you slowly whittle him down to nothing. Please also note that the buffs recommended for your fighter above still need to be applied with this scenario as well. Finally, make sure that either through spell or purchase your fighter has a magic bow.

Going to have to defend why a Travel domain cleric is better then a Oracle of Life.

Travel Clerics have great mobility, once you hit lv 7 you get D Door as a Domain spell, at level 8 you can teleport up to 80 feet without provoking AOs.
Being able to deal lots of damage with your gun is mooted, if you are going to provoke AOs while doing it.

Pathfinder is not a MMORPG, Enemies are not going to just go after your party's tank. They are going to aim for YOU the party healer! Being able to get...

As far as the mobility issue of the travel domain, yes teleportation is handy, no one will ever say it isn't, but that's really the job of the arcane casters. There are plenty of ways to increase your movement speed. If you're just trying to avoid Attacks of opportunity though you really only need to include Grace on your spell list as a 2nd lvl spell.

Finally, none of these should be a concern, because at 5th level you should be picking up the Gunslinger feat, which allows you to not provoke attacks of opportunities while using firearms.

I have to throw an idea out here, as I have been thinking through this exact same scenario as you are for a Kingmaker Campaign. 9th level - 1st lvl Spellslinger/8th level Oracle of life. Yes I loose a little spell versatility, but the primary advantage of excessive number of spells that Oracle gives can take care of the the best part about this build. A 1st level Spellslinger gets all of the fun of owning a gun, plus he can make it an Arcane Gun. Or 2!!. The primary ability of casting spells through your gun will likley be wasted (the first ray spell you get is searing light at level 3), but the secondary ability that allows you to sacrifice a spell for a enchantment bonus to your gun is awesome. Plus you can use the enchantment bonus to give your weapon the qualities of fire, frost and shock. I am awaiting confirmation of this but assuming it works another ability that it gives you is the ability to apply spellstoring to your gun. Since spell storing is usually a melee weapon only feat, I'm uncertain how this would interact, but I'd assume you'd be able to cast some of the awesome cleric spells into your weapon, shoot you target and have them take damage and be affected by the spell.
Finally, there is also the cool tricks you can do with reach spells fired through your arcane gun. Ranged touch healing spell, able to crit for X3 value is just one of the applications.
I'll state this early, I borrowed the ranged touch bit, but it still another great reason to use the gun.

HappyDaze wrote:

The problem with summons in this case is that the door breach often involves a choke point - not just the door, but often the entryway beyond is tight. Summoned creatures still take up floor space, and by filling up those squares with summoned creatures, the ability of the other PCs to move into the room is further restricted. Summons can still be useful, but they are sometimes counterproductive.

At 6th level you can summon a creature and place them up to 40 feet away. By doing that you can place them inside the room and open a second front. Now you might get flanks or just be able to attack enemies who were previously unreachable.

This works if the door is already open, but you still have a line of sight issue. You can summon the creature 40 into the room so long as you have line of sight to a valid square it can inhabit. Note, it doesn't restrict you from Summoning a large sized creature into a multiple squares outside your line of sight, as long as you can see 1 of the squares your good. However, it does you no good at all if the door is closed.

Your'e in a melee heavy, loud armor clinking party, that, aside from your witch, everyone else focuses on melee. You've got a cleric whose 2 primary strategies are run into the room and attack or channel to heal. the answer is simple. Silenced daggers. Cleric casts silence on a dagger of somebody in the front of the party. That person opens/bashes into the room, getting as close to the enemy casters as possible. You're witch, who is your primary blaster caster sits in the back so that she can open up with blasting spells as soon as the silence recends from her, as it will follow the bearer of the dagger. Better would be to throw the dagger at an enemy caster. Bonus points if you hit as it will take a move action to remove the silenced dagger and another standard action to either throw the dagger away or move away from the dagger. either way, you remove the enemy prep time cause they can't hear you comming and you might neutralize a spell caster or group of spell casters depending on conditions in the remove and you take away their ability to call for back up.
Silence is a 2nd level cleric spell, so you're Orc cleric will certainly have access to it.